EPISODE #2011-92 Part #2

"I want the truth," Felicia
fired at Cass before he'd even crossed the threshold of her home.
"Did you know Lucas was alive months before he finally came
to me?"

"Yes," Cass said simply,
having decided on his way over that there was no benefit in going with
anything short of total honesty at this point.

"Yes?" Felicia repeated
in disbelief. "All you have to say to me on the subject is yes?"

"Nothing I say will, can
or should excuse what I did."

They both knew it was true,
but still Felicia felt like he could have respected her enough to put
in a modicum of effort, nonetheless. "How could you keep something
like this from me? When you know...when you saw how much I suffered
all those years ago, thinking I'd lost him forever."

"Because I didn't want
to see you broken like that by Lucas again. I couldn't tell you the
truth until I knew for sure he wasn't going to hurt you."

"How could Lucas being back
hurt me?"

"The man who popped up in
Bay City last year was not the same one you mourned. The things
he'd done..."

"The things he was forced
to do! Because of Donna! After the hell you went through with Cecile,
you of all people should understand that!"

"I do. I did.
But much as I sympathized with his plight, my loyalties and concern
were, first and foremost, for you. Considering what you were going
through with Jenna  "

"I could have used the support
of her father!"

"You needed stability and
a modicum of peace amidst the other madness. The shock of his
return  "

"Would not have broken me,"
Felicia hissed. "How could you harbor so little faith that
you'd think Lucas returning would make me fall apart? It would
have been exactly the opposite!"

"You've fallen apart over
him before," Cass reminded. "Twice, he abandoned you.
Twice, he's broken your heart. Factor in the sorts of people
he was now beholden to, and all the signs pointed to Lucas needing to
make a third, quick exit, either through dying for real this time, or
simply fleeing to avoid it. After what you'd already been through,
I wasn't about to let that happen! So I told him to stay away. To
give you some space."

"How dare you! Who
the hell do you think you are? "

"Someone who loves you."

"You crossed a line, Cass.
I am not a child, nor am I an invalid. I don't need to be taken care
of or protected from my husband. By you or anyone else."

"You're wrong. This
is what we do, you and I. We take care of each other, we protect
each other. We stay the course, even when the other person is
kicking and screaming in protest. I told Lucas to keep away not only
until you were better able to handle his return, but also until I was satisfied
he wasn't a threat to you."

"So Lucas had to obtain your
permission to come back to me? How did that work, exactly?
What sorts of hoops did you make him jump through?" When Cass
didn't immediately answer, Felicia barked, "What did you make him
do?"

"I told him if he helped
me with Cecile," Cass blurted out in a single breath. "I wouldn't
stand in his way. I'd support your reunion."

"You traded on our relationship
to get Lucas to do your bidding." Felicia stared at Cass, disappointment
and hurt streaking her face. "I had just gotten him back and you turned
around and nearly took him away from me again! He risked prison
because of you and your... my God," Felicia gasped as another thought
hit her. "I've been blaming Lorna for all of it. You stood
back and let me blame my daughter for something you did!"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't touch me!" Felicia
shoved him away, Cass grunting in pain as her fists rammed into his
chest. "There is nothing you can say or do to make this right again.
You betrayed me. I won't forget it. And I will never forgive
you, not for the rest of our lives."

"I was just kidding," he
told her gently. "You're smart, Jen. Scary smart.
And good at pretty much anything you try. I'm just a little
in awe, that's all."

"That's what I meant.
Don't be. I've got plenty of people in awe of me. And
plenty of people scared of me. And plenty of people who think
I'm a freak. One of the things that I love about you is how
you treat me like a normal person. Most of the time."

"And here perusing Cosmo
and its ilk had me convinced that women want to be treated special.
A creature unlike any other, to quote... somebody."

"Other women, maybe.
When you know you're exactly like everyone else, when you know you're
normal and you don't have to worry, it's probably fun or flattering
or... I don't know... to hear how you're unique and there's nobody
on Earth exactly like you. I know how weird I am. My idea
of a compliment is a guy pretending not to notice."

"I'm not pretending,"
GQ sat on the corner of her bed. "I mean, I would be pretending
if I said you were like everybody else. You're not."

"What gave it away?"

"But I like you the way you
are, Jen."

"And I like who I become
when I'm with you," she confessed.

He cocked an eyebrow.
"You mean you're somebody else the rest of the time?"

"Kind of."

"That's... disturbing."

"You and me, we have nice,
normal conversations. We have nice, normal days."

"Really? I'm going
to court next week to fight for custody of my son, not from his baby
mama, which would be bad enough, but from a whole other innocent couple.
That's your idea of nice and normal?"

"Yes! It is.
You're a father who wants to raise his son. What could be more
normal than that? This is the kind of thing real people go through
and real people talk about. The last guy I went out with, he wanted
to invent his own international language."

"What's wrong with Esperanto?"

"Seriously? You want
to know? 'Cause we could call him. He'd be happy to
tell you."

"Maybe later."

"Don't you see, GQ?
Before I met you, I thought there were only two kinds of guys, the ones
who lived normal lives like regular people and didn't know what the
hell Esperanto was. And the ones who didn't... and did.
Guess which kind were attracted to me?"

"So now I'm the freak?"

"No! You're perfect.
You're everything I always knew I wanted. I'd just given up
on ever finding it, that's all."

"I got Lorna an iPod of her
favorite songs." Jasmine, who'd finally worn Matt down and
gotten him to drive her to the hospital to visit Jamie, shyly offered
her uncle the lovingly compiled gift. "I thought you could put
the buds in her ears so she could listen. Kirkland said you told
him she might hear stuff."

"That's very sweet of you,
Jazz." Jamie skimmed through the playlist, his eyes widening as no
end appeared to be in sight. He asked, "How many songs did you
put on here?"

"Seven thousand and four,"
Jasmine replied confidently.

"Seven thousand..."

"And four."

"And these are all Lorna's
favorites?" Jamie couldn't help smiling as he wondered.

"Well, only the top seven
thousand."

"And four?"

"Some of The Grateful
Dead live versions were really long. Took up a lot of room."

"Thank you so much, sweetheart,"
Jamie gave her a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek. "She's really
going to appreciate these. I wouldn't have known what to play."

"Is Lorna going to get better
soon, Uncle Jamie?"

"I hope so."

"Because now you're taking
care of her, right? That's what you went to court for?"

"I'm doing my best."
Jamie attempted another smile, but couldn't quite pull it off.
He realized his hands were shaking and stuck them into his pants'
pockets. That somehow only seemed to exacerbate the problem, though,
yanking his arms and shoulders into the act until he found himself shivering
madly. Jamie tried to stop, but found he couldn't.

"You could have let other
people help you. We all wanted to, we all offered."

"Lorna needs me."

"I'm not saying she doesn't.
I'm simply saying I bet she'd prefer to wake up and find you not
twitching like you've been hooked up to an electrical socket."

"I just need some water,"
Jamie lunged for the pitcher, taking several frantic gulps. "My
electrolyte levels are probably a little off."

"You're killing yourself."

"So what?" Jamie crumpled
the paper cup and flung it into the trash. He missed. "So
what if I am? Everybody's telling me to keep myself together
so I can be there for Lorna and the baby when they get better.
What if Lorna never gets better, Matt? What if our baby is never
born? So what the hell then?"

Matt opened his mouth, then
closed it impotently, unable to think of a single thing to say.

"Every minute I sat in that
courtroom, I kept telling myself: Just let me get this. Just let
me be allowed to take care of her, and then everything will be okay.
Well, guess what? It's not okay. Not a single, damn thing
has changed. I was deluding myself thinking that it would."

Over the hospital P.A., they
both heard Alice being paged. Good girl, Jasmine.

The fight draining out of him
in one swoop, Jamie whispered hoarsely, "I thought once the case was
settled, once Lorna had proof of how much I loved her, how I was willing
to fight for her, no matter what, that I wasn't angry... I thought
then..." He shook his head, humiliated by his own pathetic, desperate,
magical thinking; medical degree be damned. "I thought that
would somehow make a difference."

"Lorna knows how much you
love her," Matt seized on the one detail among the rest that he had
no reservations about.

"I didn't tell her."
Jamie turned to meet Matt's eyes.

"What? No. Come
on, bro, I know you. I know what a romantic sap you are, forgive
the expression; it runs in the family. No way you weren't constantly
letting Lorna know  "

"The night of her accident,"
Jamie cut him off. "The resident was wheeling Lorna up to Radiology.
To get her the MRI that I... never mind, that's not important.
The last thing she said to me, she said, "I love you." She
looked right at me, and she said, "I love you." And I didn't
say it back. I didn't say it back, Matt."

"That  that's... so
what? So you didn't say it then. You've said it a million
times before."

"I don't even know why
I didn't say it. Maybe I thought it would be unprofessional.
Jesus, I was thinking about coming off as unprofessional while she was
about to be  "

"You didn't know what would
happen."

"And that's another thing.
I should have known. What's the point of wearing that white
coat, if you can't protect the people you love?"

"Lorna knows that you love
her. Hell, she practically beat me over the head with it, gloating,
every time she saw me."

"That sounds like Lorna,"
a hint of a smile twitched the side of Jamie's face.

"And come on, man, let's
be real: I offered her this," Matt mockingly swept his hand from head
to toe. "And she still preferred your old, wrinkly, saggy biceps."

He sniffed hard. "That's
because my girl is sensible."

"And smart," Matt agreed.
"She knows what she's got. You think some bump on the head
is going to make her forget it?"

"You win," Spencer told
Carl as they met at the outdoor boundary line that connected their respective
properties together.

"I usually do," Carl agreed.
"But would you care to be more specific?"

"I'm in," Spencer informed
him tersely.

"Are you now? And what
if I counter that my offer came with a finite expiration date?"

"I'd say shove it, Hutchins.
You got what you wanted. Try and keep the strutting to a minimum."

"Finally understood where
your bread is buttered, did you, Harrison?"

"I finally understood I don't
have what it takes to go against you anymore." In response to
Carl's self-satisfied smirk, Spencer enlightened, "It has nothing
to do with you. My son and I spent the bulk of yesterday afternoon
discussing how we might eliminate you once and for all. Believe
me, neither of us suffered an ethical qualm about it."

"And yet, here I am, still
breathing."

"We realized we couldn't
do it. He couldn't do it to Kirkland, and I couldn't do it
to Alice."

"Pity," Carl observed.
"It appears you are unable to credit your wife with capacity to
understand the nuances of a complicated situation in the same manner
as I do mine."

"How fortunate that Alice
was able to rectify that shortfall through marrying you."

"So what next?" Spencer
demanded.

"Most eager to commence all
of a sudden, aren't you?"

"I'd prefer our association
over with as soon as possible. If you don't mind."

"Not at all, not at all.
I daresay, you've come to your senses at precisely the correct time.
I was just putting the finishing touches on my strategy. I can
think of several points at which you might come in most handy."

"So what are we doing?"
Spencer braced himself.

"A whole host of devilish
things. But, the piece de resistance to the whole arrangement
 I think you'll appreciate this  is that, if executed properly,
which I have every intention of doing, naturally, the blame for our
actions shall fall utterly and entirely on... Donna."

"I understand that we 
my family, that is  owe you a debt of gratitude," Amanda told Kevin
when she and Allie arrived at his office for their final meeting before
the custody trial resumed.

"You mean Jamie?" Kevin
shrugged. "It's what I do. It's about the only thing
I do well. Besides, Stacey Winthrop made it easy the minute she
couldn't keep Morgan from going off on a personal tangent on the stand.
Once the case stopped being about a simple legal issue, everything was
fair game. And I'm real good at playing the high-drama card."

"Well, even if she hadn't,
I'm sure you would have thought of something."

"True. But I might
have needed to break a sweat." He smiled, indicating for them
both to take a seat. "Most important thing is, I took the case
to make up to Jamie my actions regarding Kirkland. That's done.
Now Alice doesn't have to worry about the two of us growling at each
other across the table at family gatherings."

"I thought you said there
was nothing personal in your working for Grant?" Amanda reminded.
"So why would you need to make anything up?"

"I lied," Kevin said.
"I'm good at that, too."

"Not as good as you think,"
she corrected him cryptically.

He turned his attention to
Allie. "How you doing, kiddo?"

"I'm fine," Allie said.

"You realize that when GQ's
lawyer puts you on the stand, it might  no, scratch that  it most
definitely will get very, very rough."

"I know. Everything
that happened was my fault. They should all be mad at me."

"It's a little more than
mad, Allie. You committed fraud. You lied about who Hudson's
father was, and, worse, you signed documents to that effect."

"But, they can't prove
that I knew for sure, can they? I mean, even GQ, he took one look
at Hudson and he thought.... Maybe I just made an honest mistake."

"You've been doing your
research," Kevin commended.

"Actually, my friend, Sarah,
she did it and told me."

"Well, your friend, Sarah,
is right. Except for the fact that, if Mel Boudreau asks you flat-out
on the stand whether you knew that GQ was Hudson's biological father
 "

"I'll lie."

"  That's perjury.
And it's also a crime. I can't advise you to do that."

"What about pleading the
Fifth?" Amanda interjected, desperate. "Can't Allie refuse
to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate her?"

Kevin shook his head.
"She's not on trial. She's a witness. Doesn't apply."

"There is nobody who can
prove I didn't just make a mistake," Allie insisted. "Because
of what Hudson looked like when he was first born. He had blue
eyes. I thought that was impossible when one of the parents has
brown. I thought brown was always dominant."

"Is this even relevant now?"
Amanda demanded. "I mean, have either GQ or the Bauers said
they intend to sue Allie or have her charged with anything?"

"No. But, if either
party does decide to do so down the line, testimony from this trial
will be considered admissible. That's why I want her to be very,
very careful."

"What about you, Kevin?"
Allie spoke up.

"What about me?"

"Are you going to get in
trouble for helping me?"

"Probably."

"Like, what kind?"

"Frankly, at the conclusion
of these proceedings, I fully expect to be disbarred."

"Kevin!" Amanda gasped.

He pointed out, "I stood
by and allowed a fraud to be perpetrated. I'm an officer of
the court. That's a big no-no."

"Why did you do it?" Allie
wondered.

"I've been asking myself
the same thing," he admitted. "Maybe I did it because I agreed
with you; Hudson is better off with two adoptive parents than with his
single, biological father. Or maybe it's because I wanted to
show off for my mentor and demonstrate how I could work a miracle for
Mike's nephew when other lawyers came up short. Maybe GQ's
right and I am a closet racist  it would make sense, considering
my own situation with Jenny. Or maybe I did it to get into your
mom's... good graces." Amanda gasped at Kevin's admission
 and the implied double entendre; but he ignored her and kept on
talking. "But, mostly, I think I just thought I could get away
with it. I let my ego take over, and now I'm going to pay.
Big time."

"I don't want you being
disbarred because of me."

"I just told you, Allie,
that was my mistake, nobody else's."

"But, the first mistake,
the one that started this whole mess, that mistake was mine. Which
means it's also my responsibility to fix it. Any way I can."

POLL: Should Allie tell the
truth on the stand?

Yes

No

That you for voting! Come back next week to see the results.

Receive email notification every time www.anotherworldtoday.com is updated